'Oculus' Trailer: Don't Look in the Mirror (VIDEO)

Horror movies have done a good job over the years of transforming ordinary household objects like television sets and telephones into harbingers of doom. Now, here comes "Oculus" to ruin mirrors for us.

The new fright flick tells the tale of the titular antique mirror, which is the suspected source of some dark forces that led to the death of Kaylie's (Karen Gillan) parents many years ago. Her brother, Tim, was convicted of their murder, but Kaylie has always believed he was innocent. Upon Tim's release from prison, the pair track the mirror down to uncover the truth; instead, they unleash a world of horrors from their past.

Not much of that plot is explained in the teaser trailer, though, the bulk of which focuses on the mirror hanging in a musty attic, covered by a billowing sheet. As the sheet gradually unfolds, the mirror's face is revealed -- and it promptly begins dripping (extremely fake-looking) blood.

Though it sounds pretty ridiculous, "Oculus" boasts some impressive credits (producer Jason Blum also produced horror hits "Paranormal Activity" and "Insidious"), and at least has an original premise.

I'm trying to stay away from the obvious, but sometimes you just have to give it up, especially since we seem to be having a collective "Shining" moment, what with the wonderful documentary "Room 237" (about the myriad conspiracy theories surrounding the film) making its home video debut and author Stephen King finally releasing "Doctor Sleep," the long-awaited follow-up novel (this time Danny is a grown ass man but falling into the same traps that his father did). It should be no surprise that Stanley Kubrick, when setting out to make a horror movie, wouldn't just make some drive-in cheapie but an epic work of genre fiction that would last the test of time. Not that everyone is a fan; King himself publicly decried the liberties Kubrick took with his novel and many have claimed that it's boring, slow and ponderous. It might be all of those things, but it's also absolutely terrifying, with Kubrick conjuring images that, try as I might, I just can't scrub from my brain. Anchored by an iconic performance by Jack Nicholson, "The Shining" is one of those movies that deserves to be known as an all-time scary movie.